A Trek to Unknown- Episode 10

( This is the conclding episode. The odd number episodes namelyEpisode 1,3,5 and the episode 10 are written by me. The even number ones namely Episodes 2,4,6 and 8 are writeen by Sucharita Sarkar in her blog whynotblogitout. We both thank the readers for patient reading and comments.)

A fountain of hot water was as if flowing from his left hand to all parts of his body. Finally, it was reaching and hammering his head and compelling him to close his eye. There was a sour feeling on his tongue , wiping out the last drop of saliva. An Ant bit him, he tried to raise his hand but felt it was clamped. The biting sensation gone and he felt as if his heart started beating very fast. But this time he felt as if he was under a cold shower. The flow of hot water was reducing gradually. He felt his limbs may now follow his command and with some effort he could open his eyes slowly and saw a blurred vision of the entire team standing beside him.
What Pratap thought as an ant bite, was the prick of needle of the IV injection syringe and the unknown anti venom drug, failing the anxiety of everybody, started working well. Seeing the smile in every body's face Capt. Pratap was trying to recollect the happenings but he felt a burning sensation and pain. Sonam returned with a cup containing a green paste. " This herb paste may be smeared on his forehead. He may have occasional burning sensation."

Dr.Swamy asked" How do you know?"
"Twice I had snake bite in the border areas. After anti- venom injection, many times, patients complain burning sensation. At that time, this paste works with wonders. We use this also for scorpion bites in our villages. I saw this herb here and collected it for some future use."
Capt. Pratap said with a feeble voice" Monica, get it from Sonam and put on my forehead fast. I am feeling as if someone has smeared green chilly paste on my hand." As Monica completed the smearing on his forehead, Pratap was relieved and he opened his eyes. Dr. Swamy was looking at Sonam with high appreciation. He thought " This is quite a team. We faced several bad situations and we came out each time because we had a right team selection and everybody did their job. Yes everybody all six, no, seven of us. The invisible soul is now a part of our team. He or She, I do not know yet, helped us to cross many hurdles. Only few hurdles are left." Dr. Swamy said" Monica, you be here and try your best to keep him awake. Sonam and Tung you better take rest so that you can handle any emergency. Deepa, please join with me in the control room. we have few jobs to do." Dr. Swamy knew, in a situation like this, one needs someone who has an emotional attachment with him. This ex-circus brave girl with a steel nerve may do that job best, the job of keeping awake. When two lovers are left alone, the warm company of each other keeps away the sleeping. Right now that is important for Capt.Pratap to come round to a satisfactory extent.

Dr. Swamy and Deepa just entered the control room and both saw something. Dr. Swamy just pressed the lips of Deepa with his hand and whispered" Maintain silence. Our invisible friend is on the job." The sliding door of the wooden panel on the top of the Transmitters sets was open. Two instrument panels came down slowly and it was kept on the side table. Dr. Swamy, while inspecting, felt a tap on his shoulder. He kept his Pen on the writing pad. Dr. Swamy said " Deepa, these appears to be a low gate thyristor panel. If I replace the existing one with these two, we may reduce the tuner from VVHF to VHF frequency. Let us see if it works or not." The Pen now started writing something and fell flat on the pad. Deepa was only stunned and as expected there was a smile in Dr.Swamy's face. " Deepa I forgot my specs at Captain's room. May you please read it for me."

" You mean that Pen wrote something and that is worth reading. O.K. as you say sir, it is written.." She chuckled for a moment and then started reading with a surprised feeling" The thyristor panel may not alone serve the purpose. I know only up to this. What you want may need something more." Hearing this, cleavages appeared on the forehead of Dr.Swamy. Deepa said" If you take this as granted, I suppose, you got to change the corresponding IC(integrated circuit) panels and the matching capacitor to change the mode of tuner amplifier. Dr. Swamy jumped from his chair" There you are. And I further add let us search that wooden panel. Anyone trying to change the mode of Tuner amplifier must keep it there only." He straightened up and fished out three IC panels and capacitors. He said" Monica, I have to work with these by trial and error method. That may take an hour. Meanwhile you browse the files kept in that computer. We may get something to let the whole world know about the unknowns and if not to satisfy our self. If you may find something that shall be the last leg of our Trek to unknown.

In the following hour both were busy in their respective job. Deepa could successfully manage to get one video clipping and Dr.Swamy had a look on that. There are many others but it required a password to crack which failed after several attempts. Dr.Swamy while doing his work "Never mind Deepa. If you are sucessful to tranfer them to your PEN drive that is enough. We may get some expert to crack on them. Look minutely for something else, some record kept somewher about their activity, identity and object of their mission and the most important is the genetic design made for the invisible for the physical appearence. I am more interested in that. I shall tell you something later. You can read this pad which the invisible soul write just few hours back in the lab room." Both were back on the respective job. Dr. Swamy was so much concentrated on his job that he failed to hear the sayings of Monica in between or the sound of the printer. He tried one after another attempts to modify the frequency of the transmitter to VHF signals. Each time he put on his headphone and then went back to square No 1. But success came this time. The Morse code instrument worked and he then turned on the voice modular. All receiving stations, starting from Delhi base to ATC Siliguri and Mongon base, started sending signals simultaneously. The tuning was not perfect and overlapping of all the stations started.

As things settled, the voice message from ATC Siliguri base came online.
“ ROGER. We understand your location problem due to loss of GPS. There is an inclement weather here and at Mongon. Chetaks may not be able to fly in early morning. But definitely by Noon tomorrow, it shall arrive at a suitable location between the riverbank and any flat hilltop and it shall wait for you till your team arrives. It shall be better if you may identify any such before the Helicopter arrives. Extend all kind of local help and whatever signaling you may arrange for landing at that suitable place. Over.”
“ ROGER. No knowledge of Forecast tomorrow. But weather here is Fair and no clouds seen. Over.”
He put the headphone down, switched off the transmitter and looked at Monica. There was no reaction from her. She is in utter pain with a sad face. Tears are rolling down from her eyes. He was surprised. She definitely heard the conversations on the wireless.She should have been the happiest person as per her family conditions. As he came near to her, she just pointed to the monitor screen and few printed pages. Shock and pain overwhelmed him also and he lit a fresh cigar. He had a look at the printed pages. These are excerpts from the pages of a Diary maintained by someone with strange dates and days. He completed the reading. He knew part of the thing before reading this diary. His trained mind of scientist was gathering the evidences. Only he was looking for more to convince him first before telling others about it. He had a last look at the monitor and clicked on few pages on the, Nano- technology aided, detailed genetic-engineering design of the installation and development of the physical shape of the invisible soul. The sad part of it is printed in one of the paper. After the senior scientist was killed, his junior counterparts took away the clone concentrate vial required for the physical appearance of the incomplete clone of super human. The building up of the nano- technology aided process was beyond their knowledge. They wanted to complete most of the job at their place and then to come back here.
Dr. Swamy thought for quite some time. His cigar was extinguished but he found out an amicable way to which his team members must agree. It is 3A.M. in the morning few hours are left. More than sleeping, a conscientious and urgent decision is the need of the hour. He left the control room along with Deepa to call others.
They found everybody in Pratap’s room. Monica called Tung and Sonam to join her to keep Capt. Pratap awake. There are signs of improvement and good response to the unknown anti-Venom IV in the pale and strained face of Capt. Pratap. Dr.Swamy was sure that he appears to be out of danger otherwise things would have been different now. Sonam was sharing a past encounter with enemy at the border and their brave attempt to counterfoil the attempt. The narration was at the end part; Dr.Swamy waited till Sonam completes.
Dr. swamy said “ That’s how we are attempting to kill each other. The process is continuing between the borders of the two countries and also within the country throughout the world. Each human is trying to destroy or kill each other. This cycling process one day shall eliminate the cycle of life in this earth and no one shall remain to fight. But that is against the wish of the super creator or God, he wants it to continue and there was an attempt to fulfill his desire right at this house where we are sitting today.” Everybody except Deepa was looking at each other with surprise but Capt. Pratap got an idea what Dr.Swamy was driving at. “ But DR. Swamy we have only some guess but not much of concrete evidences.”
“ I myself do not believe on guess but on material evidences. I gathered a lot,from the pages of the diary kept in the computer, communication from the Soul, and my own observations from the surroundings. I believe now my guess has metamorphosed to a near extent of truth.

Remember, the water whirl on the riverbed, which capsized our boat. There were two other craters near the waterfall. These craters are surely not volcanic but certainly due to a huge impact and I still say that is a weak evidence for a meteorite fall. Sonam and Tung caught a few strange and giant fishes from the River for our luncheon on the first day. Their gills and intestines are different than a normal giant size fish. We also saw some strange looking animals in the forest of the flat hilltop. These are some evidences for some happenings here and I shall come back to it later on. We were on a trek to explore the origin of an unknown river. We completed that. But, in addition, we stumbled on another trek to something more unknown. The sudden appearance of a searchlight in the horizon consequent to falling stars were first seen by Pratap and Monica.That was the beginning of our New trek to another unknown.”
Dr. Swamy paused for a while and lit his cigar. Pratap and Monica gazed at each other for a while. Dr. Swamy continued “ We came to this house for a shelter and with a possibility that this could be a secret Army post who may help us for our rescue. But we found out this is an outfit neither for an army operation nor an extremist base. We found out the sophisticated devices like Radio-Antenna, VVHF transmitters, Computers, solar power system, nicely decorated rooms and a sophisticated kitchen and a laboratory inside this house. Certainly this was meant for some scientific work and the inmates gradually developed the surroundings for living here for a long duration. The question was who were the scientists and where from they came and what was their mission?”
Capt. Pratap said “ The VVHF transmitters are used only for transmission to outer space satellite. Your simulation action of putting the searchlight ‘on’ even without a falling star and the landing space with signals indicate that past inmates of this house were from outer space”
Dr.Swamy “ Last but the most important thing, you are the first one to get that cold tap on your shoulder and the smell of juniper. Only this night I have a rendezvous with this soul. I have that one right here.” He took out the pad on which the invisible soul wrote to my query. You may read that later on. But I have some corroborative information later on from the excerpts of a diary of a scientist working here. Deepa found it from the computers used by them. But let me share my knowledge on this which I have gathered bit by bit and joined to make a sensible piece.” Tung left for kitchen meanwhile and brought coffee for all.”
It was near 4.30A.M, the darkness of the sky started getting faded and the breeze outside was entering through the windows of the room with the aroma of freshly bloomed flowers.
Dr Swamy continued “ Taking the hypothesis of a super creator of this earth as granted, we may understand, that this earth was gradually developed so that his best creation may enjoy the stay and make it more comfortable for the future. But we failed him and he could foresee the dreaded future. But he did not give up. To fulfill his mission, people from some other stellar system landed here. Possibly, with their developed very super technology, they selected this unknown remote place. Their artisan and technical people came first. They developed this place with facilities for the next batch of scientists. These scientists came with clones of supporting animals to create a eco-friendly biosphere for the super human to be borne here later. We saw some of the supporting animals still living far away from this house as in the form of strange fish and animals. These super humans are the clones and product of a genetic engineering triumph and designed to become environment and eco-friendly. There shall be no room for violence, wars, state boundaries. The Earth shall become a beautiful place. The clones were designed to multiply their numbers quickly and formiddable to all kind of resistance from the existing mankind who by itself shall become very less in number. Unfortunately this did not happen due to an accident. The senior-most scientist carrying the vials of super human clone landed on a riverbed by a last time mistake. His space ship broke in pieces and the impact caused huge craters. The craters, we saw on the first day, are those only. The scientist ejected out before the explosions and landed one day late by a parachute. But, due to sudden difference of temperatures, the clone vials became defective.This was proved later on. After incubation and treatment modification corresponding to the biosphere of the present earth the resultant product was just the opposite. They were short in height with a violent and destructive nature. They soon escaped from this house and started growing in numbers and quickly learned to turn any thing into weapons and killing more than their necessity, the supporting and all other animals for their food. You may now see, here except those pigmies, who attacked us, the living animals are extinct. We saw those animals far away from this place who possibly could escape from here.”
Dr.Swamy paused while and recollecting the past incidences the team was getting restless For Dr. Swamy to resume.
Dr. Swamy continued “The senior scientist took the responsibility of the unfortunate happenings and quickly started creating a clone of him. Meanwhile, the formidable pigmies became more violent. They started attacking their own creators with poisonous arrows. Their creators were aware of the built-in drawbacks of their own creations and used them to counter it. Their hearing power was tremendous but a slight loud sound appears deafening to them and they are blind at daytime . The Scientists developed Anti-venoms and rarely they used to go out at night. They also made crackers from their Laboratory and in case of attacks at night used them to drive them away. This night we could successfully drive them away because last night Deepa and I read about in the diary kept in the computer. However my purpose was to utilize it for fun on the night of Diwali.”
Sonam and Tung said,” We must thank those gods from other Planet to maintain a diary and also To our Dr. Sahab for saving us.”
The Morning Sunlight was now entering through the widows and looking at his watch Dr. Swamy Said “ Upon failure of our last night’s attempt to contact the Siliguri base we were left with one option. Like them we had to run away from this place . They used a solar power boat and we would have done the same thing. The solar power driven motoboat built by them is fortunately charged to full and ready for operation.Do all of you remember, Sonam and Tung recovered a damaged boat from the Canal meeting the river. That was the other boat by which they escaped to a safe place and waited for their space ship to arrive. Every word they wrote in the diary is found to be true. These Pigmies are blind and sleep during day. So we had to use that boat to reach at Mongon base. But we are fortunate. All of you know a Chetak Helicopter is coming to pick us up. The point is we have to give a safe landing point.”
Capt. Pratap said, “ The clear space at the back of this building with orange colored mark for the landing shall be the most convenient point for landing and picking us up.”
Dr.Swamy said, “ Provided we may want to show the whole world the findings of this part of the Trek to Unknown.”
Monica said, “ I do not get you Dr. Swamy. The whole world must know tall these. We have many convincing evidences.”
Dr. Swamy looked at everyone and said, “ We shall all take an unified decision regarding that after I finish. The Senior scientist who saved his juniors life could not save himself. He developed the clone up to soul stage. To give the soul an external appearance, he completed the detailed genetic engineering design but could not start the nano-technique-aided execution. One evening while he was walking alone in the garden, pigmies shot few poisonous arrows to him. Unlike Pratap, he laid in the Garden for few hours and died without being attended. The Anti-venom could not be used for the creator. The pigmies attacked that night but as usual it was counter foiled by the Junior Scientists. But now they were scared. The nano-technology aided execution for the physical shape of the clone developed by senior scientist up to soul stage was beyond their knowledge. So next day the decided to leave. They took the clone vials required for the execution. They thought it best to develop that in their place under the supervision of another senior scientist there. The clone up to soul stage was modified to remain in that stage by occasional soaking in Juniper oil and feed of glucose so as to remain fresh till the scientists return again to give final shape and physical appearance of the clone. This clone is this invisible soul who helped us a lot. It can perform many tasks that like us but the lack of physical appearance limits her to perform the final task for which she was made. We share her pain but we are unable to do anything. The best thing is it to keep it as it is till the scientists from the outer space return. We may do so by keeping this knowledge including the location of this house secret. Do all of you realize the consequence if we let the whole world know about it?”
Sonam said, “ Yes Dr. Swamy that shallbe the best. If we let the others to know about it this place and the soul may get spoiled”
Capt.Pratap said “The media coverage and the arrival of many people shall make those Scientist impossible to return. The soul is in utter pain and it communicated so. I read that pad meanwhile and I agree with you to keep the whole thing secret. We must not do any harm to a soul who constantly helped us and saved my life.”
Monica said “But Dr. Swamy, if some one else locates this house they may not do so. There is no guarantee to that.”
Deepa said” At least we may have that consolation that the harm is not done by us.”
Dr. Swamy said, “ Yes there you are. Let us do our part. I understand that all of us take an oath not to leak any part of the end and most important part of this Trek to unknown be known to anyone else. That is the best we may do for the betterment of our society. Let us prey before leaving this place for our new friend, the invisible soul. One day the Scientists from the outer space may come down to give her a physical appearance.”

In the following hour, the whole team, with a heavy heart, left the house leaving all the glucose packets they had for their friend. They were on their way to the Flat-topped hill where all of them saw the search lights in the horizon. Capt. Pratap gave his Barreta to Sonam to use in any emergency. He had still some pain in his left hand. But they were more than convinced that the Pigmies won’t come in their way in this broad day light. Sonam and Tung were moving very fast. They should reach the hilltop and post the bright orange flag before the helicopter arrives.

Dr. Swamy was the last man in the row. He felt a tap on his shoulder and the smell of Juniper. Immediately he took out his pad and pen. The pen wrote, “ There are few vials and a small bottle of Juniper oil. Let my fragrance remain with all of you. The bottle is for you. For you, who I know may not forget me. I suppose, We are in love with each other.”
Dr. Swamy said “ True my friend. I am in love with you and let this power of love make you appear as wanted in the design. I promise, each year, I shall come back to you, all alone, to meet you here.”
Later while the Chetak was taking off from hilltop Dr. Swamy was still felling the smell of Juniper, it was coming from his bag. But still he was hopeful. He kept the pad and pen on his seat.

SWINE'S FLY TEA CART

His name is Birju Swain, some says Sain ji and others as "Swine" to tease him and his wife. They have a push-cart, selling Tea only and occasionally " Beson Bhunjia". A small board swings continually Swain's Fly Tea Cart( घुम्नेबाला चा दुकान) to avoid any trouble from the Estate department of Mining Colony and Police. This shop is seen daily, near the township Park from 5-30A.M to 7.00A.M and then in the Interstate Bus Stand till evening. His shop is very famous and outsells all other tea cart's although at present he is facing a whispering campaign "Swine flu Chai Dukkan" just by twisting the name of this Tea cart. He sells varieties of teas. Traditional CTC tea boiled in Milk, Steaming hot water sprayed on tea stainer containing tea leaves and special Herbal black tea. The last variety is prepared with Tulsi-adrak-Basak and fresh Honey. With the spread of the rumor of Swine Flu this tea is now in hot demand. To counter the whispering campaign by his competitors to day he has hung another Ad ' For 4 cups of tea and 1 plate Giloua( गिलौया)Pakoda, only one face mask free'. A famous Yoga Baba advised in TV that Chewing Giloua stems can save you from Swine Flu. The purpose of giving this Ad was perhaps chew Giloua Pakoda and combined with Face mask do not Panic and throng as many numbers as you can near my Tea Shop. There shall be no spread of this deadly disease. I asked for 4 cups for me and my friends. While tasting the Pakoda one of my friend told" have you seen ...Baba advising chewing the stem of this herb? I heard this is available in the forest. Can you get me one?" My site is inside a deep forest and I go there daily. I said " I do not know this herb. My friends gave me one during morning walk in the Park but I think I have now some throat problem? " गले में खराश? यू हवे sore throat " Coincidentally I have some difficulty with drinking hot herbal tea and I coughed. This was a peak rush hour and people near me overheard me . Before I could look back, the crowd near the Tea shop melted thin and disappeared. Some people snatched some face mask without any order. The couple gave me a deadly look only. The lady threw a couple of masks although I deserved only one. My friends separated at a far distance from me and yelled" Dr. Biswas, go to your house and stay there only and use the mask." News particularly rumors spray here more than supersonic speed and I saw that before reaching my residence.

I was reaching near to my residence and could identify my wife who was waiting anxiously at the gate. She prepared some mask last night for the children's drama for the Independence day programme and picked up the funniest one to place on her otherwise beautiful face to save herself. Whether up to the specified micron thickness or not after all this is a mask and a must wear when the most absent minded creature of the world she ever saw( this is my decoration ever since my marriage) is the first patient of the colony. She opened the gate and a phone call saved me from the german'Gestapo' type interrogation. Doctor Chaturvedi a reputed senior Physician with a roaring practice was calling " Dr. Biswas tell Mrs Biswas to prepare those Nice Mughlai Parathas for me. I have few patients right now but I shall be at your residence positively within half an hour. " With mask on, I communicated this to "her highness". The news of his arrival made her relieved. She pointed that armchair for me and left for kitchen. Well thank You Doctor for saving me from Immediate trouble but I understood your message. If you come to my chamber I shall loose 10-20 patients for the day. It is better to have a visit fee along with Mughlai Paratha. It is true, she makes one of the best Mughlai Paratha in this colony. Dr. Chaturvedi is a reputed senior physician with a roaring practice.

An hour later when I opened the gate for him his first words were "Remove that mask and let me have a look at you." He pulled a chair and sat beside me and started checking me.
" Since when you had that throat trouble?"
" An hour before. I am now feeling as if few needles are pricking my throat."
" You have a clear chest. But that smell in your esophagus ... Did you eat any thing, any chewable thing"
With my elephant's memory(I have a body like that also) I tried to scan well beside that herbal tea ..." well I chewed some Gioloua from the Park."
" Are you sure that was Giloua and why did you chew that?"
I refereed to that Tv Show in a News Channel prescribed by a Yogi Baba for a prevention cum cure for Swine Flu. " Do you have a sample of that?" I fished out from my pocket and showed to him. He covered that with a tissue paper and threw it to the dustbin. " Never Mind Dr. Biswas. I know that herb. This one is not that and you are allergic to that. Your tongue and esophagus have been affected. Who else collected that?" I answered " a lot many who claimed to know that collected from a corner of the Park. I followed them. They also chewed that."
" I may have few more patients like you if they are not immune to that herb."
My wife arrived with the the trolley, the aroma of Mughlai Paratha broke the dam of saliva and filled the mouths of both of us. . She studied our face reactions and appeared to be relived.
"Good Morning Mrs. Biswas. I have good News for you. This is a simple case of throat allergy. Will you please pass that Tamarind sauce to Dr. Biswas?" My wife unwillingly passed that to me. " Take a spoonful of that and pass it slowly through your mouth"
Within a minute that needle pricking reduced. Doctor Chaturbedi said" Are you better now?" " Oh ! yes now somewhat better than before. " Doctor Chaturvedi handed me a small vial of Physician's sample " If I may use your wash room then we may proceed. Myself for washing my hand before having these Parathas and you may gurgle a bit with this medicine." Putting the tap waters at full speed I whispered to Doctor" Thank for not disclosing that chewing episode to her." He whispered back" I saw her yesterday buying new Broomsticks " We both laughed loud and heard the ringing of bangles behind the door. May be with the sound of tap water she heard only our laughs.
When I returned, Doctor Chaturvedi finished one Partha and was enjoying the remaining half of another Paratha with a dash of homemade sauce. My wife was insisting for another but he refused." Another time Madam. My patients are waiting."
"Well Doctor if you may please spare few moments"
" Yes go on but till I receive another call from my assistants in my Chamber"
" How were you so sure that I am not having that disease?"

" Trade secrets. But I may tell you we observe certain physical symptoms. When an unknown virus infects your body the immune systems are on the full swing action drawing more energy from the body. People usually limp or spit throwing out the dead cells forming mucus on the throat.On my arrival the way you got up and opened the gates for me, your physical reactions do not suggest that. I checked further and found the system of your body working at normal pace and then I detected those marks of allergy. I tell you one thing. Children, senior persons and persons already having some illness of are more prone to this attack of new virus. Because their immune system is already engaged with fighting out the existing and have less energy to fight for a new arrival and that too unknown."
I asked " what is so special about this unknown?"

Doctor Chaturvedi replied" When Cholera, Typhoid was new, many people died. As time passed, the defence mechanism identified the germs and produced 'Antibody'. This virus is new, with time, body shall identify this virus and keep the required antibody prepared. The virus itself is not very strong. It may affect only the people, whose defense mechanism is already weak and most unlikely for you to become an easy prey. What is required is not to panic and get treated by a Doctor and not taking any unidentified object for Chewing as you did."

As he was opening the door of his car I saw a vehicle marked 'PRESS' stopped. I know these people, they are from the local news channel "Dainik Tehlka". My news of H1N1 virus attack spread well. Upon being discouraged by the Doctor, they left immediately. I was an object of tremendous 'News Value" being the first case of Swine flu and an attractive material fit for a Front Page story. But Now I am just an ordinary simple man.

A Trek to Unknown- Episode 9

The yells of unknown languages and rhythmatic beating of drums were now heard by all. The yells are not from animals but from a group of human beings who are calling each other and alerting everybody with the beating of drums. The sounds are approaching unmistakably to this house from the North East and South corner.
The six current inmates of this house assembled near the dining table. Tung and sonam joined just now. They are breathing heavily still now. They ran near the pond to operate the lever of the Main gate which is closed now. Everybody appreciated their presence of mind. Except Deepa no one was scared. Dr. Swamy rushed to the control room and the house plunged in deep darkness. He shouted from there" No lights now, except the small flashlights and that too in utter emergency. The glaring lights in this house may make us an easy prey for them to sharpshhot the arrows at us. Everbody squat on the ground." He asked Capt. Pratap to put on one single flashlight and to keep it on the floor. He returned with 3 bows and no. of arrows fitted with fireworks. Dr.Swamy said " Except the barbed wire fencing, I have shut down the power systems. You may not be knowing, the barbed wires of the house are having electromagnetic devices. Any object hitting it shall be caught there and turned into flashes." And Just then as if flashes from the sky lit outside and there were sounds of big sparking. " Some arrows got trapped there. They are just very near to us. Any body trying to scale the wall may have the same fate. But we have very little time left to do some thing." Capt. Pratap ran to his room and brought his Berreta and opened the magazine. Dr. Swamy said " How many rounds are there?"
" May be 250 or so, I am now going to roof top"
" Wait a minute Captain. I have a different idea. Tung, take this flash light, get all the Fireworks from my room, just get as many as you can. And Deepa, stop trembling. Go to controll room, Tung shall escort you while going to my room. Put the heavy drapes and only put on the computer and that shall be enough light for you. From the computer, feed the Defense 3 and 4 programme to the Robot and send him here. Capt. Pratap, Monica and Sonam, now listen carefully. I was keeping a surprise for you as the last item for this evenings proposed Diwali Programme with these fireworks. I attached these rocket like thing with arrows and with extended strings outside the arrow. After fixing the arrow on the Bow, some one shall put fire on the string and then the arrow shall be released. The idea was to start the rocket fire work at a height for a wider display. But now with the robot we shall make something else. If my game plan fails Capt. Pratap's Berreta operation shall be the last option."
Capt. Pratap saw the rocket like thing mounted on arrows and the extensions fitted on it. Dr. Swamy handed a bag to him and took out a rounded object with a string like extension. He said " Captain these one could be grenade like things" Capt. Pratap took it in his hand,lit his flashlight for a moment and shook his head" These objects appear to be lighter than grenade and may be these are heavy crackers with deafening sound and some light. Dr swamy said" Deafening sound and some light! That is what we need right now. Captain and Sonam, your skill for throwing an active grenade is also needed". Monica handed the remote of Robo to Dr.Swamy and reluctantly returned to control room to stay with Deepa. Dr. Swamy pressed a button of the remote directing the Robo to go upstairs. He and his team now followed the moving robot but stopped at the landing at his signal.
Dr.Swamy now whispered to his team" As per Programme 2 and 3, Robo shall stop at the center of the roof , take out the bow and arrow and wait for further instruction from this remote. Capt. Pratap, with your lighter,ignite at the other end of the string. As the fire catches up I shall press a button and let us see. As robo completes the throwing of first arrow he shall be ready with the second and so on and you repeat your action every time he does so. I shall keep a watch of the happenings and keep you informed for doing the next."
They stooped near the door connecting the roof and stairs and found robo ready with Bow and arrow. As soon as the fire was lit Dr. Swamy pressed the green button and another button. In a spilt second Robo lifted the bow vertically, pulled the Chord string to maximum and released. The arrow with a trail of fire behind shot up in the sky. The robo was ready again and the process repeated but this time Dr. Swamy did some trick from the remote. Robo tilted the bow at an angle and the arrow with a fire trail left showing a parabolic trajectory and then the rocket on the first arrow was seen in the sky which appeared like a comet. The second arrow met the first and whole sky at the Northern sky was lit with bright light. Dr.Swamy and his team found, tiny human like object with bow and arrows of equal size, just near the boundary wall. As signalled from Dr.Swamy, both Pratap and Sonam lit the extended strings of the cracker like things and hurled them with an intuitive control. The deafening sound and some light filled the surroundings. So much light and now this heart stopping sound produced the desired result. The tiny group of pygmies now shouted something different and appeared to be dispersing. Meanwhile The robo released few more arrows with trail of light at the tail end towards North East and south direction. The rockets fired and left for a much far trajectory. But this time along with Fire, deafening sounds were also heard. A few moments later the sky glowed with fire followed belching clouds of smoke. Capt.Pratap and Sonam saw the success and to confirm it they hurled some more crackers at greater distance but they were defeated by Robo from behind. Dr.Swamy put a lighted cracker on his hand and robo hurled that to far distance. Seeing the sucess, Dr. Swamy repeated the hurling action by Robo and soon apart from deafening sound the interval was filled with shouts from the pygmies. Meanwhile hearing the light and sound actions Both Deepa and Monica came running to the roof. Capt.Pratap now said" Well! Bravo DR. You should have been in the army. Any one attacking a Bunker is scared and driven away by the same tactics but yours is a much improved version." They all forgot the fear but were enjoying with laughter. Dr. Swamy said " The rockets that reached the far North-East and South served our purpose. Possibly now their living place has caught fire. Now with no restatements from their shelters and the invaders dispersed also. We are possibly safe for the night. By the time they assemble once again, it shall be the Dawn of tomorrow. Like the animals, they are blind in the sunlight."
Monica Said" How do you know Sir?"
Dr. Swamy smiled and said " I shall tell you later, let us.." He could not finish. There was a hissing like sound in the air and Capt. Pratap shouted " Watch out! every ...." He also could not finish. With his very sharp reflex he covered his face. Two arrows came. One just touched the arm of sonam and another hit the left arm of Capt. Pratap. Both were near to parapet and both forgot someone on the other side could guess their position while hurling those crackers. Capt. Pratap fell in the ground but Sonam in another quick reflex caught the falling Berreta and fired several rounds towards their opposite direction. Someone, found out a gap of barbed fencing of the wall, fell of. Monica rushed to Pratap and quickly pulled out the arrow from his left hand. Robo was continuing the hurling of crackers with changing length and the rest were carrying senseless body of Capt. Pratap to down stairs, his olive bush shirt is getting soaked with hot red blood. Monica has made a temporary bandage on the wounded spot of his left hand by her pink scarf . This was the first gift from Pratap who just wanted to have an idea how she would look as a bride on wearing a bridal veil. She was careful on the steps of stairs so as not to get her vision blurred with the tears on her eyes.
They carried him to his room and Dr.Swamy rushed to his room to get his first aid back which was fortunately saved when the boat capsized. As he was returning from the room the dining hall was filled with aroma of Junipar. Some one has kept three transparent bottles with green liquids. Hologram type stickers were pasted on each bottle. Dr. Swamy had a look at these bottles but he quickly rushed to Pratap's room and what he saw was alarming.
Pratap was still senseless and spits forming foams were coming out from his mouth and nose. Monica removed bandage and Sonam was trying to suck blood from Pratap's wounded left arm and was throwing on the floor. Dr Swamy took out his kit and told Monica to put several tourniquets. He was murmuring" The arrows contained poison and this could be very dangerous, but we can't do any thing except doing this and waiting to see what happens next" He signalled Tung to keep Pratap from laying to sitting position and just then all felt the sweet smell. But Dr Swamy also felt a cold tap on his shoulder. As he was thinking what this cold tap could mean he was about to jump but suceesfully controlled it. He just pulled the hand of Deepa and signalled her to come with him. As they reached the dining hall he showed her the bottles. But now there are only two bottles. He said" There were three bottles here. Only yesterday, I saw these bottles in the laboratory room of downstairs. Right now, I do not have the time to tell you who kept these bottles here. Just look at the hologram type sticker on each bottle. Can it be read?"
Deepa looked at the stickers and said" These can be read by a infrared torch attachment. There is one attached to a computer." Taking the bottles in their hands they immediately rushed to the control room. They found the missing bottle there but it was hanging in space and as if someone held them invisibly with infrared attachment on other hand. The bottle and infrared torch was replaced on the table. The sweet smell of juniper was gradually reducing. Ignoring that both were looking at the screen of the monitor. Deepa clicked on her programme and the numbers flashing on the screen were replaced by English alphabets.
" For confirmed attack of poisoning by snake or arrow, use this liquid. Put drops of this liquid on the patent's nostril. with warm water mix half the content of this bottle and bring it near to the nose of the patient. He may regain his senses. Keep him awake and let blood come out from his wound. There are other two bottles and more instructions. Read and use them." Dr. Swamy asked Deepa to do the reading of next bottles carefully and left for Capt. Pratap's room.
When Deepa entered Pratap's room, his senses regained partly. Dr. Swamy listened carefully from Deepa and mixed all the liquids in warm water in right proportions as Deepa said. Within minutes Pratap's condition improved. He regained his senses fully and was about to get up but prevented by Tung and Sonam. Deepa pulled Dr.Swamy to one corner and told him something. Dr. Swamy whispered to her and said " Are you sure? and in that case we are now left with this option and we have only few hours in our hand. Any way I am going downstairs and let me have a look at the hyperdermic syringe and the vials you said and some thinking I must do. Send Tung or Sonam if some emergency comes meanwhile"
Dr. Swamy found out the green colored small vials and a hyperdermic syringe in a strange looking transparent sealed cover He checked both of them keeping the sealed transparent cover intact.The syringe looked all right but the vial ! that is an unknown medicine prepared and prescribed by someone, a mistake could be... He was in deep thoughts and trying to take a decision. True, that Pratap has a posionious infection that may cost his life. They have no such life saving medicine for this. On the other hand the first set of medicines prepared and prescribed by unknowns made promised result. But it also warned that recovery of Pratap is temporary. Within few hours an IV injection from this Vial should be given but this could be fatal for him. But they have no other options. There was a writing pad lying in the desk and he was about to write the pros and cons before taking a final decisions. He always did so before taking a hard decision technical or personal. Right then the aroma of Juniper filled the room and he had an idea. He said" We are thankful to you for giving us the right direction to come out of the emergency. But we are sorry to say we do not have the means to communicate to you." Dr. Swamy lit his cigar and was plunged in thinking. He was about to jot down the pros and cons for the decision he was going to take and was about to take his pen from his shirt front pocket. It was there, he saw it few minutes before. Where he placed it absent- mindly? As he was beginning his search he found it on the pad.
Vertically standing and moving quickly as if someone else is writing something on the pad with an invisible hand. He was stunned for a spilt second but controlled himself and only watched the happenings. The pen completed writing and fell flat on the pad. He looked at the pad" I did my duty for which I am made. "

Dr. Swamy wrote quickly" Who you are"
The pen lifted up and quickly wrote an answar " Do not touch your pen now, it may slow down the process to reply because every time I require to brush up your stemcells covering the pen . Just talk to me, the pen shall reply you." Nothing went inside his head and he was still puzzled. Discusssions that followed thereafter between them were by voice of Dr.Swamy and reply through writing by pen at a lightning flash speed by the invisible

Dr. Swamy said "The pen shall not work? It is not held by you?Tell me who you are"
" I am the incomplete clone of the scientist. I have the power to transmit my wish to any object which shall follow my command. To make you understand, I am communicating through this Pen and Paper."

Dr. Swamy said " I am very keen to know to what extent you are incomplete."

" I am the soul energy clone of the scientist and I have no physical shape. "

" How and why you were made?"

" My creator and his friends came here with several clones made at their homeland. They wanted to develop these clones in the Biosphere of earth so that they become exactly like the living souls of the earth and a better species. The current biosphere is fast detoriating and the all the current living souls shall become extinct. But the super creator of of all the solar systems wanted the life to continue. To fulfil his desire craftsmen, engineers and the scientists reached here in batches. Each completed their task and left. Junior scientists first developed the supporting animals and biospheres for the super species. My creator, the senior-most scientist arrived last. His spacecraft ...." The pen stopped. Dr. Swamy was reading continually and asked " Continue please." The pen wrote" I am in pain, give me a rest, I need some glucose and come back to you soon." Dr. Swamy lit his cigar and read the contents once again. Well! there is some material evidence. I saw some strange looking animals like goat and on the first day. Tung caught some strange looking very big fishes. The pen once again started writing. The smell of his cigar prevented to get the smell of juniper and he extinguished his cigar and started reading the pad. Although he was a fast reader but failed before this writing speed to match.

" There was a slight error of trajectory and his spacecraft landed at a river far from from this house. The craft exploded and making craters on the river bed." Dr. Swamy nearly shouted " oh! those craters! that's where the big waterfall we saw"

The Pen continued writing" I do not know, I can not go out far from this house, my energy is less and requires refuelling. Try not to interrupt me. The scientist ejected out himself much before with the vials of clone and landed by a parachute. He was one day late and he was worried about the vials containing the clones of superspecies because of the sudden difference of temparature. His anxiety became true. After the required incubation period, the superspecies that came out were defective. They were far away and opposite than the bioengineering design expected them to become" The pen stooped a while. Dr.Swamy kept his mouth shut but kept guessing what that defect resulted.

" They were short in length and low in mental level. They were just opposite in nature than designed for. Instead of calm, cool, creative, they were hostile, destructive. The genetic design made them formidable to any resistance and they escaped from this place and started selfish destruction. They developed weapons and started killing the supporting animals for eating their flesh. One of the scientist was hit by a poissionous arrow and he died as no medicines for that was available. My creator developed medicines from the local herbs here and asked the other scientist not to panic but to complete the mission. He took the responsibilty of failure of this mission and started developing ammendements. He designed my genetics and made my soul first. This soul a clone of him is myself. a To make me formiddable against all possible violent attacks my external appearence was also designed. But he could not complete my final external shape. One day while he was in garden, an arrow hit him and he died before the medicines that he himself made could be used. The remaining panicked and left. I was asked by them to soak in juniper oil tubes to keep my soul fresh and recharge in glucose solution when I need. I am to continue in this state till someone recovers the external appearence of mine as designed by my creator. "

The pen now wrote only in dots and dots and filled the paper with dots and fell flat but this time it was vibrating and stopped after sometime. Dr. Swamy remained sielent, he could not read the dots. Possibly these dots are the same drops of tears, that roll down from our eyes when we are in pain or in agony. His cigar extinguished long back he was still getting the smell of juniper. Once again the pen started writting but now the words are bigger " I am in pain, terrible pain.Please give me some time. I shall let you know where my coded design for external appearence is kept. But Pratap is in danger, give him the IV injection. Sonam knows how to do it. This injection vial was made by my creator and it is tested. But he could not use it himself as he was far away from this house. But do use it this time. Do not worry .Get to pratap fast. You may find me in the room where radios and computers are kept. But please leave me alone for some time." Dr. Swamy took the vial and hyperdermic syringe and left for the upstairs. His trained mind could control the happenings of this labratory room. But he could not resist the emotions now errupted from him. Unlike the clone, his emotions bursted out not in dots and dots of black ink but in dots of tears from his both the eyes. But like the clone, the vibrations spread from his lips to the parts of the body. He became cautious. Clutching the vials and the syringe strongly he was about to enter Capt.Prataps room and avoided a collison with Tung. He was rushing out from the room to call Dr. Swamy. Dr. Swamy first heard Monica weeping and Pratap was lying in bed.

(10th Episode shall be the concluding episode and shall be published in my blog within few days since I initiated the episode. Please read episode 1,3,5,7 in pradipwritenow and episode 2,4,6,8 in sucharita's blog whynotblogitout.

ON RETURN FROM SCHOOL.

Unlike others, they come back home from school not in the crowded school bus but through a shortcut and reach only little later than the Bus arrive their township. The journey on foot is more exciting to them and provided more pleasures and mischiefs. Today is one such day.The four boys are Shyam, Nitya, Deva and Kartik. They yell and shout so much that people crossing them and living in the houses falling on their path know their names. They were crossing a lane. A big garden-house, surrounded by barbed walls and a long front gate is on that lane. The owner visits frequently from the adjoining town leaving the Charge of the house to a caretaker. His afternoon siesta hours coincide with the return timings of these boys. The four boys looked at the empty guava trees and as if sighed so high that few leaves from the tree fell to the ground.
Deva said" Only yesterday this tree near the boundary was full. We only picked up 6"
Nitya" That toothless 'Maali' ( Gardener)must have sold all the guavas to buy 'Bhang 'for his siesta" Shyam and Kartik now angrily threw few stones which failed to break his sleep but his new "desi" dog promptly reacted and barked loudly and came near the big long gate. The closed gate makes them safe and they made some ill postures making the dog to bark more loudly. That was sufficient to disturb the intoxicated afternoon siesta. The watchman came limping near the gate giving the boys time enough to hide near the other sides of the wall. Finding none, the dormant Vesuvius in him became active through his mouth venting out the filthiest possible swears in Hindi. The boys rather enjoyed this from their hideout. The watchman and his dog disappeared. Nitya said "One of you take out your color pencil box. I have an idea. I read an ad of the house owner at the Front wall just near the gate. That need to be corrected." The ad was written with deep orange color in Bold captions. " TO LET .
THIS HOUSE"
Nitya took out a matching color pencil and filled the gap between To and Let with an appropriate Vowel. After reading the 'corrected' version of the Ad they laughed loudly and left quickly. But they stopped near the adjoining crossing and Shyam said " Stop here for a moment. Look, Satya and his group has just arrived. This Ad was given yesterday, nobody read. Now see they are looking at the empty trees and reading the ad ( the add now read as TOILET....)"
"Aare Deva! look Satya and party took the ad seriously and they are performing an appropriate action." They were sure of future recurrence of the activity done by Satya and team just now by the next team following. Who knows even elders passing this garden house may also join? Why Should the 'Malli' fellow eat these guavas all alone? Let him smell the stink also.

They are now entering the township and before dispersing to respective houses sat on a bench at the Bus as if just like all other 'good boys' just came down from the Bus and taking a rest. Shyam was looking minutely at the garden of one residential Quarter. Few corns are hanging down the fence. " The uncle- auntie of that house left for a walk. Nitya, these corns should not go waste. Let us pick them. The gardeners in the park have now put fire on the garbage. That is the best place to roast them. Who wants those Maggie's every day?" The boys picked a good number of Corns. They peeled the corns and threw the green leaves deliberately just near the gate. Uncle and Auntie after they return from their walk may make loud " Hai- hai" and they may enjoy the same from the Park. They left for the Park for their next activity.

" Kartik do you know the simile.. for Kitchen?"

Deva Said "Pantry"

" Are you sure Deva? Mam shall beat us if it is wrong."

" I am sure. That is the place where Moms of every House tries some thing on Pans."

" Most of which are boring like Maggie's?"

" I do not Know my friend."

A TREK TO UNKNOWN Episode 7

( The Episodes so far> 4 persons along with two local guides are on a trek to locate the source of river. They were on two boats along upstrem direction of the river. The whirlwater capsized one boat and damaged the other. The persons rescued themselves and finally discover the source of the river. They lost their means of communication and location devices when the boat capsized. At night they stay at a hilltop and observe a roatating search light coincidental with falling stars in the Sky. They locate the source of light in a deep forest and find it on the top of a abandoned house. They find some sophisticated communication device, a working robot and some gadgets which are meant for super intelligent persons in that abandoned house. They also feel the presence of a unseen soul there.In this episode the mystery of the searchlight and the unknown souls once came to this are partly revealed by the Space scientist Dr.Swamy and Capt.Pratap. Details are in Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5, Episode 6 and current Episode 7)

Her eyelids were getting heavy.The light sedatives started its promised action. Whispering to Monica to take care of Deepa both Dr. Swamy left the room and sat near the dining table. Some one has kept the coffee prepared by Deepa. Capt. Pratap Opened the Thermos and Pour coffee on two mugs and offered one to Dr.Swamy."Captain, I am sorry" said Dr. Swamy" Possibly, my pinch on your arm was little strong." " Never mind Dr. I understood your signal and shut my mouth then and there." approving the good coffee which both of them appreciated Dr Swamy lit his cigar and said"Now, go on now what you wanted to say at that time. I think beside you and me everybody is taking rest." Capt. Pratap started" I encountered two remarkably strange things today. What Deepa felt on her shoulders, I felt it long back ". He pointed to one of the room" When robo opened that room, a sweet smell came out. I was hiding near that window. I felt some one touched my shoulder. " Dr Swamy left a ring of smoke and said " And the other thing?"
" This evening just before this incident at the kitchen we two were at the rooftop" Dr.Swamy quipped" You two ? You and..."
"Myself and Monica. We were seeing the snow clad mountains further North. Two big stars were falling with a gap of half an hour. But the search light did not operate."
Dr Swamy said" Tell me one thing. This morning Sonam and you were planning to enter this house from the roof top. Were you near the dish Antenna and saw it carefully? Is there any spike like thing on the antenna"
" Yes I saw it within a distance of my hand. There are three spike like thing mounted at the outer periphery of the antenna on a porcelain type base. I saw it once again this evening clearly. In fact to see why the adjoining search light is not operating I touched them all.The moonlight was flooding the entire roof top"
Dr swamy said" Thank god! You were saved by your good luck in the morning part and luckily by me in the evening by putting the power supply off. I spent a good part of my time in Satellite radio control systems. I am telling you that you were probably near to a very high voltage sensor antenna and a touch could have otherwise turned your body into ashes."
Capt. Pratap was stunned now and was looking at the scientist with a quest "I do not get you at all. The solar power system is on now, lights are on here."
Dr swamy was cool and asked him to follow him to the control room. Capt. Pratap found one of the Almira type thing in the control room was open and few panels are lying on table just near the transmitter system. Dr swamy pointed to the Almira type panels the doors of which was flung open. " This is the BUS Panel where the several Thrystior controlled DRIVERS regulates the solar power supply to all the installations operating in this house . I guessed and pulled away one of the DRIVER before fiddling into the Transmitters tuner panels. That has also saved your life in this evening at the roof top. That block of chip I removed from the main transmitter console panel controls the VUHF tuner of the transmitter which can receive and send signals even to outer space. With some trial and error we may adjust it to the amplitude modulated UHF and VHF signals corresponding to local distance . Then only our Siliguri base may be able to get our SOS signal."
Capt.Pratap sat on a stool and was looking at Dr. Swamy with high appreciation. This man can certainly be able to rescue the whole team . Dr . Swamy lit his extinguished cigar and continued " I am coming to your observations. You two, observed, two falling stars in the sky and the search light failed to operate. I shall make it operative for you even without a falling star. Put these batteries to the back panel of Robot." While Capt. Pratap was busy with robo putting it back to it's 'life' Dr.Swamy put back the DRIVER in the BUS panel and tuner of transmitter to its slot . Dr Swamy said "Is the robo ready Captain?" As he nodded Dr. Swamy asked him " Capt., go to that switch console and press that long thumb switch. You know very well we are manually operating this transmitter now, sending an alarm signal which the receiver shall obtain and watch out that Robo." Moments later Robo got to his feet and ran to the Dining hall. Dr.Swamy and Capt. Pratap followed. Robo removed a part of the wooden panel from the wall and put on a lever. Standing there, through the glass windows, they could see the swinging strong beam of of search light at the roof top. Dr Swamy said " This system should operate even without the robo. Let us test that. They went inside the control room and through the remote control switch of Robo, made it inactive.

Dr. Swamy said " Captain, send another signal and let us go to roof top." The robo was lying on the floor and quickly they removed the batteries. Before they could reach to the roof the Search light was operating again.

They sat near the dining table and Dr. Swamy was moping his forehead. Capt. said" I shall get some whiskey from my room"

Toasting to their successful experiment Dr . Swamy said " I may now add few observations together and may make a reasonable guess. There is some similarity between a falling star or comet and a satellite entering the ionosphere of the Earth. Both changes the temperature and disturb the electromagnetic field and cause a signal to generate. This signal is received through the antennas of the Dish to the receiver. The robo receives the signal and puts on the search light. This is no matter to the falling star or the comet what you observed in the sky. But may be useful to the Satellite to confirm the lat-long of landing by detecting the moving light source. To make the system fail-proof if the robot fails to operate the switch, the lighting system activates automatically after spilt second delay."

Capt. Pratap was surprised with this explanation" Do you mean to say that Satellite from outer world used to land here" Dr swamy said affectionately" I said I am making a reasonable guess and if you may think otherwise you may tell me so."

" I have nothing to say but hats off to you and say ROGER, understood your message sir. But what do you say about that smell and that touch that both myself and Deepa felt?"

" Captain, I am a small scale scientist who spent a part of his time observing the works of space scientist. I can not guess any thing without any fact. But may humbly advice you only one thing. Being a human, if someone at all touched your shoulder he is sending a message. Do not misunderstand. Someone is desperately seeking your help and attentions and the intentions are never to harm none of us. Tell this to everyone. There is another, which you told me on my arrival at this place, I agree with you there. This building with all these sophisticated gadgets and the existing surroundings are unlikely to be built by either army people or by extremists to carry on their operations or for rest a while. The entire set up is made by some 'souls ' for their kinds of operations, which probably were abandoned suddenly. I said 'souls ' because it is till now unknown to us about them. They may be human being or may not be..." Capt.Pratap reacted immediately " What do you mean Dr. ? All these are not built by unknown souls but not any Human being. Dr. Swamy drained the remaing whiskey through his throat and said calmly" I am only making a reasonable guess. We may have to stay back here for some time for trying to tune that transmitter to local frequency. May be along with that we may stumble into few more things and then possibly we may come to know about the unknowns. Now it is almost midnight and time enough we catch some sleep for the rest part. Good night" Both left for their room.
Changing to loose dress Dr. Swamy put a perfume of jasmine on his dress. He appreciated the nicely made bed for him a deserving need for him. The whiskey thyat Pratap made for him was really good. The aroma of Jasmine made him to fall into a sleep first and a dream later.
He found himself in a lonely but pleasant beach.The sea waves with continuous train of breakers and cool sea bridges were really soothing. A big wave came and it made him all wet. The breakers are coming again and this time he tried to move away but saw someone coming slowly far from the blue sea waters. A female clad on a wet white dress was coming towards him. She first touched his feet and then touched his shoulders and turned him on his back. This is no way to behave. I am not a dead soul leave me alone and go away from here. She moved back a few feet and stood
near his feet. Now no more to tolerate he sat up and the opened his eyes. The white drapes were moving in and he was in his room. But the smell of juniper has filled the room and it has overpowered Jasmine in his night robe. Ignoring the presence of soul, he stretched himself on his bed and tried to catch some sleep but it was an attempt in vain. He checked his watch. Possibly he slept for four hours and now wide awake. He decided to leave for the control room to do that just attempted tuning attempt of the wireless set. The silent atmosphere is the best to him to concentrate and comprehend the complex chip circuit. He checked his tool kit box and put some pendrives. The softwares are needed to be downloaded in the computer to unfurl the circuit mystery of the tuner amplifier. The smell has filled the controll room and he felt disturbed. " Listen! who ever you are! If you have some means to communicate to me do that or leave me alone. I got to do some important work for the rescue of the whole team." The smell continued to be there and ignoring that he put on the computer and inserted the pendrive of cybernautics software. The pen drive failed to operate and he tried to check it. He then looked at the keypad. " This is different. Some machine language type symbols are here." He pressed the keybuttons at the third row, the usual row for English words begining with Q, W,E etc. once again some machine language type thing came on the screen. He was sure that the words are not Japaneese or chinese. He had a faint knowledge of both the scripts. Now this is another problem. He thought that with the help of software he could adjust the Tuner amplifier. But now this an uphill task. He told himself not to be disheartened and to avoid the the thought of disappointments an idea came to his mind.

Robitics was his favourite subject and he thought to play with the robot now placed at one corner of the room. He replaced the battaries of the robot now charged to full and took the robot remote controll pannel in his hand. On trial and error he could comprehend the functions of the robot. The robot moved throughout the control room, moved out of the room and came back as per his commands on the remote. He was looking for more, the voice communication system of this robo was one thing he was looking for. He tried all the buttons and then tried simultaneous pressing of two buttons. The last activity made the robot to do something different. Robo came near to him, pulled him away along with his chair and stood near the computer. Robo opened a pannel on the top of the computer and took out a few Pen drives and a connecting cable. He put one end the cable near slot in his head pannel and other end to the corresponding slot in the computer. Keeping Dr. Swamy's pen drive back to the table, the robo put the one brought just now. There was a beep sound and the pen drive started working. First the machine language type thing came . The robo looked at him and then as if waited for few seconds. Dr Swamy sitting beside him was watching minutely the keyboard operations of the robo. The robo typed from the second row of the keyboard, where the alphabets are placed. Now something similar to English numerals came on the screen. The screen looked like this. First line 23(gap) 18 25 9 2 (gap)13 8 15 8 5. 5 4 6 . There are digits and digits, line wise. Dr. Swamy lit his cigar and started thinking. A few seconds and he was about to jump. Starting from left, 2 and 3 correspond to second and third buttons 'W' and 'E'. If it means 'WE' then apply it to next 18 25 9 2 that means 'K', 'N', 'O', 'W' make KNOW . Now 'We Know' makes sense and the third one that makes "DIGITS" and next means TRY. The first line may mean " WE KNOW DIGITS. TRY". He still did not believe it. Applying the same nethod he tried reading the next line" I, a machine only. Another in water. Bottom a big laborto. Clone replica there. Sweet and no light feed" It is meaning there is another robot which is now under the water of pond and there is a laboratory at the downstairs. A clone is kept there. Sweet and no light is the food for some one. Dr swamy stumbled on this last. Sweet and no light is the food for some one. For Whom? He stopped reading the rest interpreting the digits manually. This could be some initial success. If he was correct, Deepika might write a suitable programme to convert all these jargons into some meaningful thing. He should better catch some sleep now. Locating a couch he proceeded towards that and found the smell of Juniper there. He was restless and angry now "If you may understand my language then please leave me alone. I am trying to know about you. Please leave me alone and you better go somewhere where it suits you most." He now smiled. After all, with whom is he talking? It does not understand and he went to another corner of the window. Few moments later there was no smell. Does this 'creature or not' follow his words and left the room? He should not bother. The couch should be vaccant for him . He had enough of surprises and he needed a sleep now and soon he did so.

( To be continued. See EPISODE 8 IN SUCHARITA'S BLOG NEXT WEEK whynotblogitout)

A trek to Unknown Episode 5

( These are seires of episodes published alternatively by myself and Sucharita Sarkar . Episodes 1,3,5 are in my blog and 2,4 are in her blog whynotblogitout)

They knocked the door of the staircase and were waiting for a response. There was no response and they did it repetedly but the response was as before. Capt. Pratap surveyed the roof top quickly. A huge dish radio-antena, a movable search light, battery of solar pannels and thick armoured cables cover more than half the roof top. The absence of any portable field gun or rocket launcher and not even few sand bag barriers surprised him. Even if this building is abandoned the sandbags are not normally removed. If at all removed there should be some traces of of few sand grains. With his bino he surveyed the surroundings carefully. He completed the survey of the all the three sides and the bushes nearby. There is a foot track going to the Pond at the back of the house.

Towards south is another footrack through which they came from the hill where Dr Swamy is waiting for the search Helicopter to arrive.. Looking at the skyline towards that he was trying to scan for helicopters. Only a lone wild Buzz came in site. The Chetaks leave a very thin condensed trail of exhaust fume at cold tempratures in sky. This was totally absent. Looking at his watch he could guess that possibilty of arrival of any air search party is very bleak. The worst possibilty of abondoning the air search by the Siliguri base by observing some material evidence can not be rulled out. That leaves him with one option to send message from here. Looking at the radio antena he knew that a very powerful radio transmitter is connected to it. They have to go inside this building to be near to that transmitter. But some thing drew his attraction to the Northside of the building, just opposite of the search light. Remmnant of trunks of few tall trees are as if cleared by burning them and there is no bush. A very big circle is marked by red flurocent paint. Few arrows point towards a red dot marking the center of the circle and this is the signal system for any helicopter to land with slow vertical drop without any helipad. He was now sure of an active radio trasmitter system inside this house. He called the other three and showed them this mark. They had a quick conferrence there. Capt. Pratap said in a hushed voice " That radio antena with a cable going through that door of the roof means a very powerful radio transmitting system is there inside this house. Nobody is responding to our repeted knocks on the door. All the doors and windows are shut and they appear to be shut for a long while. Only with a hidden ventilation system, some people may be still in this house otherwise this house may be abandoned. But if we go inside this house we may be able to send SOS signals to anyone in the world and that is the only way of our recue besides trekking 80Km onfoot through deep forests towards Mongon. Any doubts?" Monica quipped " But there may be..." Capt. Pratap said " I thought of that. Myself and Sonam shall enter this house by that door. First You and Deepa go down and wait with pindrop sielence near the gate. Take my bino and look at the pannel there. From my walkie I shall send you signals. One beep gap two long beeps means we are safe and wait for us. Two long beeps means both of you run towards the direction we came from the hill and reach to Dr.Swamy. Any doubts now?"

Deepa was getting afraid now" Capt.Pratap do you apprehend any danger and then.." Monica said" Why should only you two shall face the danger we two may give you active support."

Capt Pratap matained his low voice" This could be a secret extremist base, I am not sure. Our idea is to get near to the communication system. The house with all the doors or windows shut may be totally vaccant. With some hidden ventilation system, may be a single occupant or not more than 3-4 people are hiding inside. If it is so we shall tackle them. Sonam and myself are trained in front to front combat operation. For the safety of this operation you need to go down and rather give us back cover. Do that and I tell you we shall all be safe. Any doubts?" Both the girls nodded approvingly and Monica gazing at Pratap said in a sad voice " Pratap both of shall be careful . Won't you be? Good luck Captain." Deepika looked at both of them and her feminine intution sensed the emotional attachment between them. She could not control a deep sigh which Monica felt and her red cheeks became reddish pink.

Sending the girls back Capt Pratap whispered to Sonam " You worked in BSF and you know how we ambush in such an easy situation. Both of us crawl to the door, myself from the left end and you from the right end. Just go on putting your ears on this floor in between your crawling. Any of us detect any footfall in the stairs shall alert another. In that case crawl quickly to the right wall of the entry to the stair and hide there. I shall be covering you with my Beretta from the left end. Charge with your Khukri for your defence. Any doubt?"

Tung grinned and nodded approvingly. His grin assured Capt. Pratap that he had a right companion for this operation. only fearless people grin before any operation big or small.

Standing on both walls of the entry to stair case they waited for few minutes. As Pratap signalled both now kicked on the closed doors of the staircase. The staircase flung open. They waited for a few minute and Capt. Pratap walked down few steps and Tung was following him. Capt.Pratap signalled and Tung kept the door half open and put a small piece of rock on the hinges of the door. This was done both to have minimum light and to have a quick exit. Both knelt down on the steps hiding themselves behind the parapet walls of the stairs. Capt.Pratap just peeped through the down stairs beyond the landing and Tung was trying to view the landing. Tung whispered " Some one is there in the landing" Capt.Pratap Shifted his gaze and also viewed the same.

"There is no foul smell . Whoever is lying there is not dead. Tung, do you have some pebbles in your pocket?" Tung whispered back "I have some oranages" Capt.Pratap threw that orange to the lying object it fell just near to it. There was no response. Putting his berreta in rapid fire position both moved slowly and reached two steps ahead of the landing, the lying object was still motionless and it was clearly seen by both of them.

Tung lost the control of his voice and said" It is a big toy only, the toys you see..." Capt. Pratap's immediate reflex closed the lips of Tung with his hands and whispered" Pss!! shut your mouth. and do not touch this, keep a watch on the downstairs and the floor. Now any time any thing may happen. let me have a look of this toy" He saw many times in a situation like this some strange object is placed to distract the attention. The objects are deliberatly placed to distract the attention and to take the invaders by surprise. It was a toy all right but a toy of different kind. More than 3-4 feet long Chocolate brown face with deep orange colored space suit type thing dress. He whispered" Follow me and carefully cross that toy as I am doing." They came down with slow footsteps on the steps of the curved downstairs leading to the main entrance of the building.

A big hall surrounded by 2-3 rooms with closed doors and the walls are panneled with pine wood . Putting their ears on the doors of each room they felt no trace of any one inside. Heavy full length orange red curtains all around the hall made it pitch dark. With approving nod from Capt.Pratap, Sonam put on the flash light for a moment and both saw a big center-table with few unusual looking bar stools. A white cover is laden on the table but it appears there are many things kept under this cover. Both with silent and slow footsteps made guess walk to reach near the table. Capt.Pratap whispered " Put on the flash light for few seconds.

Sonam go to that width side of the table I shall cover you from here. Quickly remove that white sheet and put on your flash light for a while."

As if few people were to have their dinner or lunch but suddenly decided to cancel it at the last moment. The nicely laiden table with crockeries but no food suggested that. With the dim flash light, Pratap found few colored TV remote controll type switch pannels, with multicolored switch buttons. He checked all of them none look like any exploder type. He fumbled with the buttons of all these remote controlls one by one but with the orange one, something happened.

As he pressed one red button followed by a orange red button a light flashed on the pelmet of one of the room and the sliding door opened . A sweet smell filled the hall. Realising the danger Capt.Pratap covered his face and nose with handerkerchief and signalled Sonam to do so. In a spilt second they hid behind the curtains. The smell could be a gas to make them unconscious. Sonam and Pratap now heard a distinct footfall. The sound is coming from the stairs along with footfall a flsh light is also coming. Now hidden behind the curtain, both kept themselves motion less and kept themselves glued to the wall.

They felt a moving light and heard a very light hum of a running machine was approaching to them. Both of them only knew now they have to face something. Pratap sneaked through the gaps between the heavy drapes. The moving object has blinkering flashlghts fixed on his forehead, chest and hands and this is very similar oH! it is the same orange colored toy they have seen just before lying on the landings of the staircase. Good heavens! this is not an ordinary toy, this is a robot. The robo stopped near the big dining table and detected the white cloth at the bottom of the table which they threw few minutes before. Robo picked it up and threw it on the table and once again the table was covered. He looked at Sonam. He was at the other end of the curtain and engaged watching the same thing. Both looked at each other and continued their position as before. Robo moved further and it touched the pelmet of another door. The door opened and lights from the ceiling floodded the whole dining hall. The robo moved inside the room which opened just now. Capt. Pratap immediately went to the dining table and picked up the orange colored remote switch pannel. He remmberred distinctly that he pressed the red and orange button of this remote. Posiibily these actions have activated the robo. Playing with any other remote might have opened the door of another room from which sweet smells were coming. He only guessed that this orange colored remote could be the control pannel of the robo. He looked at the ceiling. Three thick black cables entered from the ceiling to the walls of the room that robo has just entered. This could be the transmitter room and now a small part of todays mission is to be completed. He should now patiently wait for some time to see what the robo does. He had an elementary knowledge of robotics when he worked under a Major general in the army headquaters. This robo may be harmless but it maybe fitted with self activated laser guns that may be dangerous. Suddenly all the windows of the hall and the doors of all the three rooms opened. This could be another activity of the robot inside the room. Fresh airs are now entering through the windows. The sweet smell disappearing gradually. Both removed their handerkerchiefs now enjoying the fresh air and keeping a strong vizil on the doors of all the rooms. Pratap and Sonam are now still near the window hiding themselves behind the curtain. As the beam of blinkering light appered on the door Pratap pressed the red button of the remote. The robo came out limping from that room and it slowly sat on the floor and moments later laid lifeless on the floor. They both ran towards the Robo. Pratap asked Sonam to turn the Robo on its back . He found out the sliding pannel on the back of robo and opened the switch pannel and put the switch off. He found out the battery cover and took out all the four batteries. Even if they put some where some switch on, the robo shall remain inactive. He told Sonam not to touch any remote on the table. Doors are remote switch operated. Before entering the transmitter and controll room of the house he does not want to get locked inside the room.

The two computers, a big TV screen and panels of two transmitters in that room assured them that they have safely concluded the todays mission. They are standing before the blinkering control pannel of two active powerful transmitters. Now they are no longer disconnected from the external world and getting rescued from this place is very simple. He pressed the buttons of his walkie to Monica and Deepa sending the signals of safe mission. Capt.Pratap and SonamBoth came out from the room. Monica and Deepa are both yelling from the downstairs and they must go down the stairs to the ground floor. Sonam was getting down. Capt.Pratap collected all the remotes and again went inside controll room to keep them in a secret place. let not anyone touch them. As he was coming out he felt the sweet smell again and as if someone touched his shoulder with a cold arm. With his sharp reflex he pushed it away and found nothing. The motionless robot was lying at one corner. He then suddenly felt hungry and thirsty. For long many hours he did not have any thing. The three are now coming up with loud voices of excitements. Moments later he heard another. It was a blare from the radio of the control room.

" Chetak one calling Siliguri control. Over"

" ROGER. ATC Siliguri base online. Found anything. Over."

" ROGER. Found only an abandoned damaged boat . No trace of other boat or any human on the entire course of river. Apprehending swept away. Caution Mongon camp to look for floating objects on river. Question of further search. Light bad and thick cloud cover on west. Over."

" ROGER. Sending lightnning signals to Mongon. Abandon search. Return quickly. Keeping five hundread to thousand feet clear for you, proceed west south, await landing clearence. Over."

"ROGER. o.k. Over."

The tranmisson went off. There is no point in sending a SOS now, Capt. Pratap thought and closed his eyes for further actions. He felt a sweet fragarance but a warm hand touch on his shoulder. He opened his eyes and found smiling face of Monica now. He needed it badly more than a glass of water.

( Ack: Sketch of Robot by Susmita Biswas, My wife inspiring me to write this episode. This is a work of fiction. All characters and narrations are mixed with our imaginations only. Any similarity to any characters, if found, are purely out of coincidence. This is in response to several e-mails I am receiving now.For Episode 6, please see in next week in Sucharita's blog whynotblogitout. Who may unfurl a part of the interesting but unknown trek made by the Characters.)

CHITRAKUT WATERFALL

CHITRAKUT WATERFALL- NIAGARA OF INDIA

Driving 300km through NH 43 from Raipur, the capital of Chhatisgarh, we reached Jagdalpur at about 2 P.M. It was a fortunate clear sky in the month of july in Chhatisgarh. We took this oppurtunity to see some steel grade limestone deposits around Jagdalpur of Chhatisgarh . As we were planning to work on the Limestone deposit on the following day we were looking for a good hotel In Jagdalpur a district city of Chhatisgarh. Besides many budget hotels there are 4-5 good hotels at Jagdalpur. We stopped near Rainbow hotel just at the heart of the city and there I had a different idea. I told my counterparts" If you want to see the real rainbow on the Niagara of India it is Chitrakut and just 30 km towards Northwest through a equally good road of NH 43. There is a good resort just by the side of the waterfall. It shall be a full moon light and you may view the waterfall as long as you want. Further more our limestone deposits arealso near to that" The idea sold like hotcake and we immediately started. Half an hour later we were hearing the roaring sound of waterfall even from 2 Km away. Reaching at the parking lot about 500 m away from the fall I put my raincoat and gumboot and I told them "if you do not mind wetting your dress and spoiling your shoes you may dress like me, choice is yours." Looking at the sky with little cloud some preffered not to dress like and repented later on. As we reached near to the fall, the drops of water were already wetting few of us but those who followed me enjoyed a wonderful scene. The river indravati fed by the huge catchments of rainwaters both from Orissa and Chhatisgarh is in it's youthful energy. The place near the fall is about 300m wide and forms a horse shoe shape just before the fall.

The water was falling to a vertical drop of 100feet and a nice rainbow was formed in the sky by the combinations of continual sprayed droplets of water and the falling lightrays of the setting sun .
The full moon flooded the sky and we continued till late night seeing this fall from our rooms from the resort. I saw this waterfall so many times while propecting for limestone deposits. But as our work mostly take place during winter I saw the calm waterfall. The seven distinct falls from this horshoe shaped opening is clearly seen at that time.

Approach:

1. From Raipur end: Raipur being the state capital of Chhatisgarh is well connected by Air and Rail on Bombay-Howrah route Via Nagpur.

From Raipur through NH 43 the district headquarter of Jagdalpur is 300 Km. From
Jagdalpur it is only 30Km. Lots of Volvo delux buses ply from Raipur on Raipur- Bailadila route. This route offers spectacular view of the forests betwwen Dhamtari and Kanker. Between Kanker to Keshkal the drive through a spiralling high way through a hill is spectacular.
2. From the Vizag end: One may also follow train route of Jagdalpur from Vizag, the Coastal city of Andhra pradesh. Vizag is well connected by train and Air. This is a spectacular journey, the train route follows the highest broadgauge tracks of the world passing through 28 tunnels. Delux buses also run from Vizag to Jagdalpur.
From Jagdalpur it is advisable to hire a private car or Jeep on contract basis.
Stay: Jagdalpur has both budget and luxary hotels. People prefering to stay at Chitrakut may either stay at the Luxary resort just near the waterfall or few more hotels which are also at walking distance. But from these hotels the spectacular view of waterfall partcularly at night is not possible. The lighting arrangements are there to view this but nothing comparable to naturall lighting of fullmoon days. on full moon days the lighting system is kept shut.
Other places to visit near to this: There are seven such places around Jagdalpur. Three of them are very near to Jagdalpur within a radius of 35-40 Km. The rest may take 3-4 hours to reach by car. All places are connected by good road.
1.Maharaja palace and also known as Bastar palace at Jagdalpur and museum near the palace is worth seeing.The Bastar Palace, one of the splendid creations by the King Dalpat Deo of Kaktia manifesting superior art and architecture of yesteryears. In 1936 Maharaja Pravir Chandra Bhanjadeo became the first oriya ruller. He was killed in a "police action" on 25 March 1966 when he revolted against the Union Of India for the rights of tribals in his erstwhile principality, hundreds of tribals got killed in that police action defending their Maharaja, who ultimately succumbed to 13 bullet injuries in Baster Palace.
2. Dalpat Sagar lake: spread over 400 hecters in the town built by Maharaja Dalpat deo Kakatiya is also worth seeing. The evening sunray falling on this lake and the return of series of boats of fisher men and their songs of local fairy tale of Maharaja makes agreat relaxing evening. You may also enjoy the boating in this lake.

3.The Tirathgar waterfall :
This is in the kanger valley National Park and another spectacular fall, about 45 Km from Jagdalpur.
4. Dantewada Temple:

This at a distance of 87 km from Jagdalpur at the spectacular confluence of Dankini and Sankhini river.Parts of the dead body of Goddess Sati were scattered to fifty-two different places, which were consecrated as Shakti Pithas by different names. It is believed that a tooth of Sati had fallen here and Danteshwari Shaktipith was established. Resurrection of the present construction of temple was done before Independence of India. The temple is divided into four parts such as Garbh Griha, Maha Mandap, Mukhya Mandap and Sabha Mandap. Garbha Griha and Maha Mandap were constructed with stone pieces. It is said that several statues were brought from Barsur and were established here. A Garud Pillar has been erected in front of entrance of the temple, which was brought from the temple of Barsur.Chalukya rulers were the dedicated devotees of
5.Barsur : 75 KMs from Jagdalpur on the way to Dantewada a small town Geedam is situated, 24 KMs towards North of Geedam village Barsur is located on the banks of Indravati. The present small sleepy village was once the capital of Gangawanshi rulers in 840 A.D. It is believed that there used to be 147 temples and equal number of ponds here in the towering days of Barsur. Some of the temples worth mentioning are Mama-Bhanjaa temple, Chandraditya temple, Battisa temple and a mammoth statue of Lord Ganesha. Apart from these temples one vast pond of pre-historical days is worth visiting.
6.Bodhghat Sath Dhar : - 6 KMs from Barsur, river Indravati divides into 7 parts to form one small waterfall. This spot, fully covered with dense green forests stands to explain the beauty of the combination of the river, water and the mountains. With all its beauty and peaceful locality Sath Dhar is an idle picnic spot.
7.Kutumsar cave and the musical Kailash Gufa: Both situated in the Kanger Valley National Park, stand at 38 km and 40 km from Jagdalpur respectively. The Kutumsar Caves which are 1327 meters long display magnificent formations of stalactites and stalagmites and are probably the darkest of their sort, 35 meters below the ground level. These are possibly the world’s second largest caves formed naturally and house five natural chambers and quite a few blind wells.
The Kailash Gufa is situated on a small hillock and looks similar to the Kutumsar Caves. A 100 meters long cave, it is also pitch dark and has a narrow entrance. Discovered in 1993, the cave houses stalactites and stalagmites galore. There is a special stalagmite formation which can be seen at the end of the cave in the shape of a Shivlinga. The reverberations caused here are strangely musical.
People coming from Vizag end enjoying the serene beuaty of the hills,valleys and tunnels may stop over at Arraku for a night to see this wonderful hillstation.

35 km from Dantewada, Bailadila is the largest mechanised opencast mines of iron ore where N.M.D.C is currently mining. Essar and Tisco are also likely to put up their mines shortly and at present detailed exploration is going on. Myself and my team are working on this. We enjoy the beauty of this place and quite often take rest beside this fall.People interseted in seeing these may also visit. Permission to see the mines may be obtained from N.M.D.C Authorities.